mejor

today was a much better day than expected. especially considering the fact that my archaeology midterm was due tonight.

it started like any other. i woke up later than planned and tried to throw some more ideas about marxist archaeology on the page. then off to the class i TA. afterwards, i had had a lot of archaeology reading to do and a project proposal to turn in by 5. i decided my desk at school was the place i was least likely to be productive (especially with rumagin around), and scoffing at the coffeehouse options near campus i headed to admo. basically, after hearing mention of unicorn two weeks ago, and then walking past it last saturday, i've realized i crave a space like that here. i wasn't a frequent patron of the 'corn, but i have fond memories of it. i'm pretty sure i composed a few poems there, back in my bard-esque days. but here, the options are couches in the student center, starbucks, or the "mud box" in the basement of the library. rumagin actually suggested there's a coffeeshop in the arts center, which i didn't know, but i thought today wasn't right for exploring. i needed something reliable. so i hopped on the red line and headed to tryst. i called e.e. on my way, and he met me there. i got a decent amount of reading done, finished my proposal, and had a tasty sandwich too.

at 5, we left, and i decided to take the bus back since it was running more frequently. on our walk east, we stopped into city bikes, where e.e. wanted to get some sort of elusive bolt for otto's bike. they didn't have it, but the guy behind the counter said if he brought the stem in they could figure something out. behind the counter there was a half full bottle of vodka. they had a little feat cd playing. i like that place....if only i had a bike. but i do have a suspicion that i might be getting one soon. i was confused as to what gift would require my inseam length but not my waist size. but when i mentioned that e.e. should build me a bike, he reacted strangely. then he said he had been painting today, and when i asked what was being painted he responded "just something i needed to paint." i'm suspicious. or maybe its just wishful thinking. i suppose i'll find out soon though.

after all this, i took the bus back to campus, finished reading, did one quick last edit of the midterm, and printed it, using the secret hidden toner stash.

finally, at 8 it was time for class. archaeology is usually the bane of my existence. its been almost 7 years that i've been saying "never trust an archaeologist" (and i keep finding new reasons why its true). i find the discipline marginally interesting on good days, and dreadfully mundane anytime after 6pm (and the class is 8-10:30pm). but instead of meeting in our usual classroom, we have moved our class to d-say's new lab. sure, its in the basement, but its littered with paul simon posters, and maps of the great dismal swamp (sounds so upbeat!). and to celebrate our new location, we had a lab-warming party with pastries, pakistani potato balls, cookies, and pumpkin bread. our new seating arrangement was far more conducive to discussion, and i was more awake than usual tonight. perhaps because we were discussing inequality and resistance as visible in the archaeological record. dan even asked if anyone really got into resistance. his example was "you know, when you hear the word resistance, do you say 'fuck yeah!'?" I responded that maybe i didn't say those exact words, but i did get into resistance. of course slight ironies were not lost on me. i noticed every liquid in the room was a coca cola product. a 2 liter of coke. a 2 liter of sprite. a 16 oz coke. a 16 oz diet coke. a McDonald's medium cup full of coke. a 20 oz dasani (porcupine) water bottle. a 16 oz dasani (porcupine) water bottle. and i even drank some coke, but only because rafi poured a cup for marvine, but she already had one. i simply offered to consume what would have otherwise gone to waste....

class ended with a rousing tale of how d-say didn't drop out of college due to one amazing archaeology professor. the story also included the fact that he graduated from high school 4th from the bottom of his class of 2000, and at one point in his college career had a 1.65 gpa. i guess that gives one hope that no matter where you start, you can get a ph.d.....and a job....

after class we all hung around a bit finishing off the last of the snacks, and i ended up offering k squared a ride home. i've decided he's my new favorite friend. along the way he told me stories about when he and his wife were in the peace corps in romania. and he made a joke about celeine dion music.

so maybe the day wasn't quite so remarkable, but the paper is finished, and all i have to do tomorrow is go to class and write my (now 2 days overdue) questions for the panel i'm facilitating next weekend. and then on to birthday partying this weekend....